Installation

Recommended: Installing the ia CLI with pipx

If your primary goal is to use the ``ia`` command-line tool, the recommended approach is to install it with pipx. This keeps the CLI isolated from your system Python while making the ia command available globally.

Using pipx ensures the CLI is isolated, easy to upgrade, and globally accessible.

If you just want to try out the ``ia`` CLI without installing anything, you can use the prebuilt binary instead. See the :ref:`binaries` section below for details.

Prerequisite: Make sure you have pipx installed. For installation instructions, see the pipx installation guide.

1. Install ``internetarchive`` using ``pipx``:

pipx install internetarchive

2. Verify the installation:

 ia --version

This should display the installed version of the ``ia`` CLI.

Troubleshooting pipx Installation

• Permission errors: Avoid using sudo with pipx. It is designed to work without elevated permissions.

• Command not found: If ia is not recognized, restart your terminal or run:

pipx ensurepath

• Python version issues: Ensure you are using Python 3.9 or later.

For more details, refer to the pipx documentation.

Installing for Python Scripts (using a virtual environment)

If you want to import internetarchive in your Python scripts (for programmatic access), the recommended approach is to use a virtual environment:

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install internetarchive

After this, you can use the library in Python:

from internetarchive import get_item

item = get_item("nasa")
print(item.metadata)

Using ia Binaries

The easiest way to start using ia is downloading a binary. The only requirements of the binary are a Unix-like environment with Python installed. To download the latest binary, and make it executable simply run the following commands:

curl -LOs https://archive.org/download/ia-pex/ia
chmod +x ia

Binaries are generated with PEX. The only requirement for using the binaries is that you have a supported version of Python installed on a Unix-like operating system.

For more details on the command-line interface please refer to the README, or run ia help.

Updating

The method for updating depends on how you originally installed:

If you installed ia with pipx (CLI):

pipx upgrade internetarchive

If you installed internetarchive in a virtual environment (Python library):

Activate your virtual environment, then:

pip install --upgrade internetarchive

If you are using the binary:

Simply download the latest binary again with the same steps as above:

curl -LOs https://archive.org/download/ia-pex/ia
chmod +x ia

For more information about recent changes, see Updates.